Law Times

Law Times • November 30, 2015 Page 11 www.lawtimesnews.com Making the border irrelevant Capitalizing on Canada-U.S. relations BY JULIUS MELNITZER For Law Times t the heart of Dick- inson Wright LLP's drive to foster cross- border business are two principles: the first is to provide a platform for seamless management of cross-border business issues, and the second is to be as active as possible in encouraging cross-border en- terprise. "Our view is that if we can promote that type of business, the legal work will come," says John Leslie of Toronto, an in- solvency and restructuring practitioner who is a member of the firm's governing board. "Because we're a full-service firm, the cross-border platform doesn't define us, but our spe- cialization in cross-border le- gal counsel does distinguish us from our competitors." DW boasts more than 400 lawyers on both sides of the bor- der. They are spread among 15 offices in Toronto, Washington D.C., Michigan (Ann Arbor, Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rap- ids, Saginaw, Troy), Ohio (Co- lumbus), Tennessee (Nashville (two)), Arizona (Phoenix), Ken- tucky (Lexington), and Nevada (Las Vegas, Reno). "At any time, we can have about 200 lawyers working on Canada-U.S. matters, and that includes outreach to govern- ments, legislator, and trade as- sociations," says Dan Ujczo, an international trade and customs lawyer who is the co-ordinator for DW's Canada-U.S. advisory group, which includes more than 35 partners representing every office and practice area. Ujczo is particularly well qualified for his post at DW. He headed up the Canada-United States Law Institute for 12 years, he was recently appointed to the national board of directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, and he serves as the president of the Ohio-Canada Business Asso- ciation. Other partners also play an active role in organizing the Canada-U.S. business commu- nity. Mark High, a member of the firm's Detroit office, serves as the president of the Canada- United States Business Associa- tion (CUSBA) in Detroit-Wind- sor. Robert Groesbeck in the Las Vegas office is a former head of the Canada-Nevada Business Council. Still, despite the enormous size of the cross-border trading relationship, DW is one of only about a dozen AM-LAW 200 firms with offices in Canada and the U.S. "Many firms, Canadian and U.S., haven't set up offices in both jurisdictions for fear of the referral work drying up," Leslie says. "Our goal, by contrast, is to make the border non-existent for our clients." Lawyers are licensed to prac- tice in their respective jurisdic- tions, with teams devoted to Canada-U.S. structuring, M&A, private equity, taxation, intellec- tual property, immigration, and trade and customs compliance. "We wanted to be seen as a true cross-border firm, so we're licensed on both sides of the border and able to practice cross-border, U.S. domestic, and Canadian domestic law," Ujczo explains. "In most cross-border practices, a referral means the guy on the other side of the bor- der, even if he or she is in the same firm, has to open a new file. We think an integrated platform works much better." Indeed, Ujczo is reluctant to coin DW's cross-border activi- ties as a "practice," instead focus- ing on the concept of a platform. "The key is to embed that platform so that every lawyer on each side of the border can plug in to it," Ujczo says. "Calling it a practice gives the impression that it's been hived off." But there are challenges. "One key objective is to raise the cross-border perspective when we're working on domes- tic issues with clients," Ujczo says. "It's a matter of having our lawyers getting used to asking those types of questions." As well, in-house counsel are accustomed to having different firms in Canada and the U.S. "So we're working on getting general counsel accustomed to the idea of dealing with us on both U.S. and Canadian issues," Ujczo says. David Olsen, the Toronto- based regional president and principal officer of PNC Bank Canada, a cross-border finan- cial institution that focuses on the middle market in both countries, says the DW model works well for his company. "We've found it very useful to partner with Dickinson Wright, both because of their presence in Canada and the fact that their U.S. offices are generally housed in our footprint markets in the U.S.," Olsen says. PNC, the Canadian Con- sulate General network in the U.S., and DW have repeatedly teamed up to provide introduc- tory seminars about cross-bor- der expansion. "DW does a great job of let- ting our clients know what they should be thinking about in terms of cross-border expan- sion," Olsen says. "Before they even think about how to do their banking, they need foun- dational insights into things like how to set up a company, how to get stuff and people across the border, and how to pay taxes properly." Clearly, the partners at DW aren't sitting around waiting for the next big Canada-U.S. deal to walk through their doors. The Doing Business in Can- ada seminars have been held in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Nashville, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Phoenix, and Tyson's Corner, Virginia. "These events draw from 100 to 200 companies each and target issues such as fi- nancial deals, tax issues, and everything from IP to immi- gration," Ujczo says. This past summer, DW joined with Export Develop- ment Canada, the Province of Ontario, UPS, and others to support the Expand in USA event held in Missis- sauga, which drew more than 150 Canadian companies looking to grow in the U.S. And this month, DW is partnering with the U.S. Commercial Service and the American Chambers of Commerce in Canada to pro- vide legal expertise at the Select USA event aimed at promot- ing trade and investment in the U.S. The U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Bruce Heyman, about 25 U.S. economic development organizations, and more than 60 Canadian companies will be attending. The law firm is also active on the policy front, having been intimately involved in initia- tives such as Beyond the Border. Firm clients, for example, were key leaders in the Canada-U.S. preclearance agreement signed earlier this year, and DW is cur- rently working with the Depart- ment of Homeland Security on a "known employer" program to facilitate legitimate business im- migration. Otherwise, DW recently joined with Johns Hopkins School of Advanced Interna- tional Studies to win the bid from the Privy Council office to explore the next phase of the Regulatory Cooperation Coun- cil. "We're devoting significant attention to thought leadership and the future of the Canada- U.S. relationship," Ujczo says. To that end, DW was a spon- sor of the recent Canada-U.S. Public Private Partnership Forum in Washington, D.C., and a lead sponsor of sev- eral large North American- focused events looking at the future of NAFTA. Similarly, the firm's members are ac- tively engaged in the CETA, TPP, and TTIP trade deals that will restructure Cana- da-U.S. trade. Finally, DW is hosting a series of post-Can- ada federal election events in D.C., Toronto, Columbus, and Detroit, in November to discuss the impact of the election on Canada-U.S. rela- tions. Leslie says it's all well worth the effort. He notes that Canada continues to be the largest source of direct foreign investment in the U.S. In the past year, Canadi- an companies such as Magna and Toronto-based CVMR Corporation, a mining, metal refining, and vapour metallurgy process development company, have invested a combined $330 million in Tennessee alone. As well, companies such as Windsor-based Nature Fresh Farm have made their first foray southward, creating 300 new jobs in Ohio. "One of the easiest ways to expand a good business is to do it cross-border," Leslie says. "De- spite all the bad press regarding border challenges and protec- tionism, Canadian companies are demonstrating an unparal- leled interest in cross-border trade and investment." LT FOCUS THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS MADE EASY Alberta Legal Telephone Directory is all about your legal community connecting you to the lawyers and law offices you need in Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. 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